The actuators are, for example, motors controlled by command receivers and intended to operate solar protection devices and closure devices of the building. The command receiving modules for driving the actuators are, according to circumstances, directly incorporated in the actuators, housed in casings above openings, or housed in false ceilings near the actuators. In the best case, in terms of accessibility, the command receiving module is contained in a nearby control box, comprising control push buttons, located close to the actuator, and connected to the latter by wire communication means. In the following text, the term “nearby controlling means” denotes a command receiver and a processing unit which are therefore, according to circumstances, either separated physically from the actuator or incorporated in the actuator.
These command receiving modules are commonly radio receiving modules and may have radio transmission means which enable them, for example, to acknowledge receipt of the received commands and their correct execution.
Since they have these means of communication, the actuators can communicate over a distance with each other and with command transmitters of mobile or fixed types. This communication is carried out according to a common protocol.
At the present time, these devices are suitable for a plurality of applications, and these applications will develop with the development of technology.
This plurality makes it necessary for manufacturers to create numerous versions of actuators and/or nearby controlling means, where each actuator and/or nearby controlling means for providing different functions is made in a specific version. This results in a high cost, without recompense for the user. Thus, for example, a built-in electronic actuator has different functional characteristics according to whether it drives a blind or a roller shutter. Commonly, these will be two different products, although there is no essential difference between them.
The development of technology also tends to make different generations of products incompatible, unless their costs are also increased. Similarly, the frequent difficulty of access to the products impedes any improvement or updating work (“upgrades”) of the kind which is common in other fields.
In other fields of the prior art there are known methods for using an external resource by means of a communications network to carry out remote processing. For example, there is a known way of using numerous computers co-operatively in a calculation requiring a large amount of computing power.
In a field more closely related to that of the invention, there are devices for communicating data to a heating, ventilating and/or air conditioning (HVAC) thermal comfort control unit. In simplified terms, heating actuators “transfer” to a central thermostat the decision-making for switching them on automatically and collectively. In modern installations, communication between the heating equipment and the central unit makes use of radio waves. However, this communication does not include any transmission of data relating to the dynamic operation of the heating or air conditioning device (current input, fluid pressure, etc.), as required for dynamic calculations relating to this operation.
In the field of the invention, namely that of actuators for security, closure or solar protection systems for buildings, there are known installations combining actuators with command transmitters communicating by radio, for example in the form of an integrated home system using a carrier current, as described in EP 0,718,729, but this network is hardly used other than for sending out a general command and/or transmitting an acknowledgement of receipt.
Similarly, it is current practice to use a wire or radio network to transmit information on the open or closed state of the different products controlled by the actuators, and even information on their current position. This position information is transmitted on request or periodically. In none of these cases are the data used to enable the movement of the product operated by the actuator to be analyzed by a remote resource communicating by radio with the actuator, in such a way as to control said actuator.
In patent application FR 2,811,703, in order to tackle the problem raised by the present invention, the limit switch control of said actuator is processed in a control box close to the actuator. This control is carried out by analysis of the motor torque. This is an entirely natural arrangement, since this control box is interposed between the mains supply and the actuator: it is logical for the currents supplied to the actuator via this box, and, for example, their phase shift, to be analyzed by processing in this box for the dynamic calculation of an image of the motor torque and consequent detection of the presence of stops. This patent application makes no mention at all of the transfer of this calculation function to another resource accessible via the communication network using carrier currents, and therefore radio frequencies, although such a network is used as a variant in this patent.
The same is true of patent application CA 2,299,689, in which the set of data received from different sensors is processed in a control unit in the nearby control box, although a communication link to an external data processing resource is provided.
In the field of the invention, therefore, it has never been envisaged that the dynamic data relating to the operation of the actuator or of the product connected to it could be transmitted by means of the radio communication link normally used between a remote command transmitter and a nearby means of controlling the actuator, to permit the analysis of the movement of said product and to deduce therefrom the commands to be sent to the actuator.
Application EP 1,091,079 discloses an installation comprising two devices, in which the control of a first device can be transferred to the second device. This control consists of manual control carried out by a user independently of the dynamic operation of the first device.
It has never been envisaged that the existing functionality of said actuators could be improved by remote processing, using a radio communication link, of all or part of their executable programs.
Similarly, it has never been envisaged that actuators could be provided with new functionality, of a type not implemented in these actuators or in their nearby control boxes, by using a remote resource and a radio communication link.